Expandable garment hanger



Sept. 27, 1960 H. w. PACE 2,954,150

1 EXPANDABLE GARMENT HANGER Filed July 29, 1958 HAQTSEL W. DAcg INVENTOR.

atnt Patented Sept. 27, 1960 EXPANDABLE GARMENT HANGER Hartsel W. Pace, 5815 Garford St., Long Beach 15, Calif.

Filed July 29, 1958, Ser. No. 751,768

1 Claim. (Cl. 223-95) This invention relates to garment hangers and more specifically to an expandable hanger for womens skirts and other clothing.

One object of the invention is to provide a garment holder which is of light weight construction and so designed that the same may be readily grasped and manipulated to provide a controlled length for garment holding purposes.

Another object of the invention is to provide a garment holder of the type set forth having a support bar composed of two sections of molded composition materials wherein one section has a key and the other section a mating keyway for strengthening the support bar.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simple garment holder length adjustment through clips which may be readily moved and which stay in the desired position when once set and which maintain the two sections of the support bar in close contact whereby the key and keyway contribute the maximum strengthening to the assembly.

A further object of the invention is to provide a hanger which may be readily collapsed and hence will occupy less storage space during shipping and storage than previous- Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a garment hanger em bodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a detail view of portions of the support bar showing the strengthening key and keyway;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of the two clips used on the garment holder shown in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a view in section taken along the line 4-4 of Fig. 3 and showing more clearly the rounded detent button on the inner wall of the clip.

As shown in Fig. 1, the garment holder comprises a support bar 8 made up of a first section or member 10 and a second section or member 12. The two sections are generally similar and differ only in that section 12 is provided with a keyway 14 which key 16 of section 10, as shown in Fig. 2, engages with a sliding fit.

A series of depressions 18 are provided in the wide outer faces of sections 10 and 12. Projections 20 and 22 on section 10 and projections 24 and 26 on section 12 serve to retain clips 28 and 30 respectively in position and effectively secure one clip to each section. The edges of the inner sides of sections 10 and 12 are broken to define V-grooves 32 and 33 when the support bar is assembled. Sleeves 34, made of rubber-like material and snugly fitting on the ends of the two sections, serve the purp'ose of gripping garment 36. Notches 38 are provided for holding garments which may be provided with straps. The garment holding assembly is supported by hanger rods 40 and 42 which engage clips 28 and 30 respectively and which are joined at the other end to hook 44 by means of pivot pin 46 or other conventional means.

Fig. 2 shows the relationship of keyway 14 and key 16 and also the appearance of projections 24 and 26.

The clip shown in Fig. 3 comprises a four sided structure having a boss 48 on top which is provided? with opening 50 into which a hanger rod may be inserted and retained. Wedge shaped guides 51 and 52 fit into grooves 32 and 33 of the support bar to aid in keeping the clip in position. The detent button 54 fits into the depressions in the side of members is and 12. The

action of detent button 54 in grooves 18 is to retain the required span between extremities of support bar 8 to suit different sizes of garments. The shape of button 54 is shown more clearly inFig. 4. The clips are preferably formed of molded composition material.

In operation, the garment to be held is placed over sleeves 34 and the support bar is extended by pulling on members 10 and 12 until the desired length of the support bar is attained and the detent buttons of the clips slide into place in the appropriate depression in the sides of sections 10 and 12. This detent action maintains a spaced relationship between opposing ends of arms 10 and 12. When it is desired to release the garment, the length of the support bar is shortened by pushing on sections 10 and 12 thus ireeing the garment. The short leg of clips 28 and 30 which contain the detent buttons is springy, by virtue of its construction, and is able to ride up over the material between depressions 18 when hand pressure is brought to bear on the ends of the support bars. When packed for shipping, the hanger rods are detached from grooves 50 in clips 28 and 30 and the whole is then packed in a narrow rectangular display box which occupies very little space.

The configuration described permits the hanger to be light in weight and still very strong. The pull of a heavy garment must shear the key beforethe support bar will fail. Since the composition materials such as polystyrene plastic, which is a preferred substance for making the sections, is extremely resistant to shearing stress, the hanger will be very sturdy. The manner in which the clips are fitted to the sections assists in preventing distortion through twisting. In particular, the lit of guides 51 and 52 in the mated openings at the top and bottom of support bar 8 aids in maintaining proper alignment of the moving parts. Hard rubber, metal, wood, plastics, or combinations of these materials may be used in construction.

Obviously many modifications and variations ofthe present invention are possible in the light of the above teachings. It is therefore to be understood that with-in the scope of the appended claim the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

What is claimed is:

A garment holder comprising a hook, two support rods pivotally joined to said hook at one end, two four sided clips pivotally joined to the other ends of said support rods, each clip comprising upper and lower sides, a third side joining said upper and lower sides, and a springy fourth side joined only to said upper side and having one end free, wedge shaped guides secured to the inner opposing upper and lower sides of each of said clips, a detent button secured to the inner fourth side of each of said clips, a support bar adjustably held by said two clips and comprising a first section defining a plurality of detent depressions along the length thereof adapted to slidably engage the detent button of one of said clips and defining projections at one end adapted to maintain the other of said clips in fixed relation to said first sec tion, a key running along the length of said first section and secured thereto, a second section generally similar to said first section and defining a keyway adapted to slidably engage the key of said first section, said support bar defining two V-shaped grooves at the juncture of the upper and lower edges of the two sections and engaging the Wedge shaped guides of said clips, and garment hanging means secured to said first and second sections at the end opposite that hearing the projections for maintaining said clips in position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Osgood Ian. 15, 1901 Pickhardt Apr. 18, 1902 Page Aug. 15, 1933 Welker Jan. 19, 1954 

